Scott

Hi, this is Scott.

A link to a game I made called Space Chase. Wish I could find a way to put it directly on this site.

By the way, my IR book is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

This is my short Story (please comment on it):
Psion
Chapter 1-The Destruction
My name is Ani and I was only ten when it happened. As usual, I was doing the daily chores required of me by my family when, suddenly, the Sun exploded and ruptured the Earth. There wasn’t any warning. As one by one I watched my family die, oldest first, I couldn’t help but think one question.
Why. That is what I asked myself so often after that fateful day. Why did the World have to end, why was I one of the survivors, and why was I the one of the 1,000 to survive that tragedy? These questions have I asked myself time and time again, and always the only answer that I can come up with is fate.
They keep me here on Treïjon as any army would keep a prisoner. They say that I am an honored guest, but I can see in their minds that I am destined for death. You must be thinking that no one can read minds, but certain “powers” have started to develop in me ever since I was taken from Earth (by humans, amazingly). The powers I gained include everything from telekinesis to mind reading. The things that I saw in the minds of my captors were, to put it bluntly, frightening.
This is yet another thing that I add to my long list of whys, why are those humans still alive? This question was one of the first one of mine to get answered. My captors came in and informed me that The King requested my presence. When I refused to acquiesce I was dragged through the halls. Being 19, I didn’t much appreciate this, and I let them know. It was my first time using my psi powers (what I have decided to call them) on another being. As I had never had any practice, my use of psi powers only served to annoy the guards, who apparently had had much experience with “psi brats” (their term for those of us who utilize our psi powers).
When they dragged me kicking and screaming into the hall I saw something that filled me with more trepidation than I had ever felt. A tall, slender man who looked in his thirties was using all of the psi powers with amazing precision and power. He didn’t even turn around, but rather thought to me (I know only because no one else responded) These humans are some of the survivors of prior Destructions. In response to all of the questions welling up in my head he informed me Now is not quite the time for answers. Ani, I want you to become a general of the Treïjon army.
Chapter 2-Drafted
I accepted, as I really had no choice. So the next day, I was shipped of to “General Training” where I was told about everything from why I was here to whom I would be leading an army against. The army he was leading was to fight against the Argoçç Resistance, a band of rebels who were reportedly almost vanquished. Their main and most powerful fighters, The Abushido, were the descendants of the first Japanese to survive the “Destruction”. I had already been told that the Destruction was what had happened to my beloved Earth. All of this knowledge I absorbed like water, but of course, like any school, there was a test.
At the end of all of these studies I was tested, not for what I had just studied and what I had learned, but rather for “military leadership ability”. This test was obviously only a test to see if I could easily utilize my psi powers. The reason I say this is because the test held questions that there were questions on top secret military operations. It was very easy to grab the secrets out of my guard’s mind, as if he wanted me to know the answers, which he did.
When finally decided to disclose the test results to me, it turned out that I had gotten everything correct. Of course I had predicted that I would, so this didn’t surprise me at all. What did surprise me, however, was when one of the Haru Kashi, my guards “rightful” name, told me that “The real test would begin now.”
Chapter 3-Training
As it turned out, the real test was just like what I think military testing would be like on Earth, it tried my endurance and strength, but most of all, it tried my psi powers. For a whole week I couldn’t eat because I was locked in my cell. Once I finally broke out, I learned from the other officers in training that having to break out of my cell was just another training exercise, albeit one with very disastrous results if failed. At about three o’clock daily the Haru Kashi would get me from my cell and I would be trained in psi techniques.
Pretty soon, I realized that people’s thoughts had signatures, and thus learned my guards thought “signature”. It was hard to guess the identities or personalities of the Haru Kashi before I learned that trick, because they almost never spoke and wore suits that covered their face. My particular guard was apparently very unorganized and procrastinating, as almost all of his thoughts were about reports on me and emails that he needed to send.
Despite the guards comment about a “real” test, I took no tests after my training was through. I believe that this is because my trainer, an eccentric person, already knew all of the abilities that I had. I know this because I heard his thoughts while he was listing my abilities, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, technikinesis1 , morphikineses2 , and even cognikinesis3. Wow, I’ve never had so many powers in one pupil. They sent me straight into the field almost exactly the day after I heard this thought.
Chapter 4-The General
At first I led a whole army of Mangudi, the name that we psi users have chosen for ourselves. Soon, people in my army started disappearing, and rumors of the man who had recruited me killing Mangudi started cropping up. Not long after the disappearances started, I was down to leading only a squad of Mangudi. Interestingly enough, the more Mangudi that died, the more powerful that I became.
Even after all of these years, I still remember the names of the people in my squad: Saomur Haisusuke, the last surviving Japanese Mangudi, Jack Tailor, a classic American teenager, Jeremiah Taisil, a Hindu, and I. As a squad we were the most efficient fighting force in the Treïjon army. The jobs we were sent to do therefore required full use of all of our psi powers, jobs such as raiding the Argoçç’s main base through heavy bombardment and disabling all of their Anti-Air turrets.
But there were losses. We lost Jack Tailor escaping from the submachine guns after disabling their turrets. After so many raids and flash strikes into enemy territory, despite there only being about 20 Mangudi left, it was time to destroy the Argoçç’s home city of Chzềç. I was in charge of leading all of the Mangudi left in a decisive strike on the city center. I thought to them, if today is my time to die, let it be so. For today we shall create peace throughout the Empire. Today we fight for justice! May it be served! Then, to thunderous applause, I took my position at the front of the strike team. We did our work quickly and efficiently, and we were almost out when the Abushido came rushing out with their katanas, their weapon of choice. It was slaughter, I imagined that it would be bad, but none of us would have escaped had it not been for the new ability I had gained only recently. Wheeling around, I held out my hand to create an impenetrable shield to protect the Mangudi. My friend and successor, if anything were to happen to me, Saomur Haisasuke, saw me doing this and turned around to help me. When the shield broke, as I knew it would, the Abushido couldn’t get at me because Saomur was throwing everything that he could think of at them. I didn’t expect them to have Mangudi, however and was stunned when a telekinesis blast knocked me out. I saw Saomur fall as I was falling.
Chapter 5-The Truth at Last
When I woke up Saomur and I were being moved. Before us, in the back of a hovetele4, was an old, short, bearded man who looked as though he were thousands of years old. Apparently I had forgotten my training in blocking people out of my thoughts, because suddenly I heard in his head One hundred thousand to be exact. Although this seemed impossible, I decided to believe him Wow, that’s old. It is not so old for a person such you or I. What do you mean? I mean that those of us with psi abilities can live forever, until we are killed naturally. As a matter of fact, the man who recruited you, who is called simply The Psion5, has lived for almost fifty thousand years. Why is he called The Psion? The leader of all of what you would call the Mangudi is always called The Psion. I had been trying to get free all of this time, and I now succeeded. I lunged at the old man and found that my hands closed on smoke.
Another smoke figure appeared before me, and thought, don’t try to escape using your psi powers, I have blocked them off. In return I thought Why didn’t you kill me? Because we need you, Ani. It has been prophesized that you will restore the Argoçç to their former glory. The Argoçç used to reign over Treïjon until The Psion betrayed our hospitality and murdered most of us. Those of us who didn’t escape his psi army were tortured until they became what you now think of as the Haru Kashi. We are all that is left to ensure that he doesn’t destroy all human existence. Even though he was feeding me what my psi training told me were lies, I believed him, and so listened to him finish. What happened to Earth was horrible, but it wasn’t the first time. Every ten thousand years the Sun explodes and creates a new crop of Mangudi. It used to be our job to welcome them and in return we gained some of their abilities. But now that The Psion has taken over he murders the new Mangudi. That is why only twenty of you were left when you attacked us. I didn’t even need to ask whether any had escaped, I knew that if any had they would soon be dead. Now caught up on both side’s views of the conflict, I finally realized why I believed the Argoçç’s story more. The old man, who, I learned from his mind, was named Taku, had thoughts that agreed with what he said. So I decided to help the take down The Psion.
Chapter 6-Preparation
I had learned many things from my attack on Chzềç. I learned that new psi powers are weaker than old ones, friends are the most powerful allies, and I learned not to attack until you had enough information. So for the next few weeks Saomur and I scouted entrances into the Haru Kashi base, and thought of possible ways to get past the guard there. It turned out that the base was most vulnerable inside the exact same hangar that the ship that had rescued us dropped us off inside. In order to scout more we had to use some of our techniques for escape the guard, such as starting a fire under their feet to distract them while we slipped by.
We had a couple of close calls, though. One time we only escaped from the guards because I changed into one of them and was able to wrest his gun from him before he noticed Saomur. Another time the building was on full lockdown and we both had to weld the door behind us shut after we exited the building. Even though we had so many close calls, we were finally able to gather enough information to attack.
Chapter 7-The Siege
We had planned for me to go inside the hangar and to use my morphikinesis2 to take out the small patrol that guards it. Apparently, however, someone had figured out that we were planning to enter through her and had more than quadrupled the guard. Rather than try to take out all of the Haru Kashi, we decided to take the most direct route. Luckily for us this usually well guarded route was left with almost no protection since they had upped the hangar guard.
We moved very quickly through the cave and only encountered two guards. The first one I dealt with by exploding a nearby barrel. The second one I just ran at with my katana, which I had gotten from Taku as a sort of graduation gift. The Haru Kashi ran away, dropping his gun as he did so. Just as Ani and Saomur were about to enter the elevator however, a figure of The Psion appeared I thought that you would betray my hospitality. Very well, we shall duel. As I rode the elevator up to my confrontation I thought of how I was ever going to defeat The Psion.
Chapter 8-The Final Battle
When Saomur and I exited the elevator, we were greeted by an apparently empty room, except for windows overlooking the sunset. Then The Psion appeared, took one look at Saomur, and used his telekinesis to throw his katana into Saomur. I was overcome with anguish. But instead of laying down my weapon, I drew it, and we started to duel. Left and right soaring and burning objects flew. I matched him with thrown objects and my katana blow for blow. As I got tired he was able to guide a few objects so close to me that I had to break them in half with my katana. One such time I missed and got knocked back by a burning piece of a window frame. Laughing The Psion thought to me I knew that that prophesy was a lie. Angered, I leapt at him with such force that we were both thrown backwards about five feet. Suddenly, a gust of wind pushed me backwards into a wall. Dropping my weapon, I tried to relieve the pressure of the wind on my throat.
I’m gonna die, I thought. I’m gonna die, as The Psion lunged towards me. I’m gonna die, and somehow I lift The Psion up with the same power that he used on me. I’m gonna die, and then I was released. My power had canceled out his. With a snarl I called back my sword using telekinesis. We both raced to meet at the center of the room. For the first time in the battle, I remembered Saomur’s broken body, and I fought harder, pushing The Psion into a corner. It was then that I saw a vent system. Then I decided that if I had to die, he would die too. As the poison seeped out from the vent my thoughts were of Earth, and the future Mangudi who would now be safe…
Chapter 9-After The Victory
I awoke. Then the memories came back to me. Saomur was dead, so was The Psion. So who had saved me? I had chosen to die back at the room. However, I soon learned that it had been Taku who saved me, when I heard his familiar Hi. I walked out of the strange, clandestine room that I was in and, to thunderous applause yelled “Justice at last!!!” so that all of the audience, which consisted of both Haru Kashi and Mangudi, would hear me.
Chapter 10-Epilogue
In the years after my defeat of The Psion, I have created something as close to a utopia as I think exists. The people never fight, they all have enough land to do with whatever they will, and when the new Mangudi come they get absolutely no military training.



Notes:
1: Technikinesis, the ability to control machinery
2: Morphikinesis, the ability to change into another person
3: Cognikinesis, the ability to learn new psi powers


Origins of Names:
Ani, the main character, was a man who helped us install Age of Empires III onto our computer, and I liked the name
Treïjon was a name that I just invented.
Argoçç, the name of the resistance fighters, is another name that I came up with
Abushido, the name of the most powerful warriors of the resistance, came from Bushido, the Samurai code of honor
Haru Kashi is another Japanese derived word. It came from Hari Kari, the Japanese term for suicide
Mangudi came from the name for Mongolian horseback archers, with the same name as in the story
Saomer, the first name of Ani’s best friend, came from Samurai
Haisasuke, Jack, Tailor, Jemeniah, and Taisil, the names of the squad members, are all made up
Chzềç, the resistance's main city, came from Czech
Taku, the name of the old man who is Ani’s teacher, is made up